Venus Williams, Sofia Kenin Lead US Open Women’s Wild Cards

By Witherspoon
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Updated: August 19, 2022

Former world No. 1 Venus Williams has received a wild card into the 2022 US Open.

Venus Williams will be back in action at the US Open this month.

The former world No. 1 and 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin lead the list of women who received main-draw wild cards into the US Open.

Americans CoCo Vandeweghe, Elizabeth Mandlik, Peyton Stearns and Eleana Yu will also receive main draw wild cards into the 2022 US Open, as will France’s Harmony Tan and Australian Jaimee Fourlis, as part of reciprocal agreements.

he 2022 US Open will be played August 29-September 11th at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.

Venus Williams, 42, has won seven Grand Slam singles titles including back-to-back titles at the US Open in 2000 and 2001. She returned to competition after missing nearly a year due to injury earlier this summer, competing in WTA events in Washington, D.C., and Toronto. She last competed in the US Open in 2020.

Kenin, 23, is the most recent American to win a Grand Slam singles title, capturing the Australian Open crown in 2020. She also reached the singles final at the French Open in 2020 and has been ranked as high as world No. 4. She recently returned from an extended injury hiatus and last competed in the US Open in 2020, reaching the fourth round. She is currently ranked No. 412 in singles.

Vandeweghe, 30, has been ranked as high as world No. 9 and won her first singles title in more than six years last week at the WTA 125 event in Concord, Mass. She missed the better part of two full years due to various injuries and health issues, returning to the tour full-time in 2021 and is currently ranked No. 125. She won the US Open women’s doubles title in 2018.

Mandlik, 21, is ranked a career-best No. 143 and earned her wild card by winning the US Open Wild Card Challenge. She is the daughter of former US Open champion Hana Mandlikova, is 35-16 in singles this year and qualified and reached the second round at the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic WTA 500 in San Jose.

Stearns, 20, earned the wild card traditionally awarded to an American NCAA singles champion by winning the title as a sophomore at the University of Texas in May. She also helped lead the Longhorns to back-to-back NCAA team national championships. She won her first professional singles title at a USTA Pro Circuit W25 event in Sumter, S.C., last year and holds a current singles ranking of No. 356.

Yu, a 17-year-old from Mason, Ohio, earned her wild card by winning the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championships on Sunday. She has spent the majority of the past year competing in USTA Pro Circuit and ITF World Tennis Tour events, has twice appeared in qualifying at a WTA Tour event and earned her best professional result when she reached the quarterfinals at a USTA Pro Circuit W25 event in Daytona Beach, Fla., earlier this year.

Tan, 24, is ranked No. 110 and notably reached the fourth round at Wimbledon earlier this summer. She earned this wild card based on a reciprocal agreement between the USTA and FFT where wild cards between the US Open and Roland Garros are exchanged.

Fourlis, 22, is ranked No. 150 and qualified for the Wimbledon main draw earlier this summer. She earned this wild card based on a reciprocal agreement between the USTA and Tennis Australia where wild cards between the US Open and Australian Open are exchanged.

The USTA also announced the American women receiving wild cards into the US Open Qualifying tournament, held August 23-26 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center: Kayla Day, 22, the former world No. 1 junior and 2016 US Open girls’ singles champion; Valerie Glozman, 15, the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s national singles runner-up; Catherine Harrison, 28, former UCLA Bruin who qualified for the main draw at Wimbledon earlier this summer, reaching the second round; Liv Hovde, 16, the reigning Wimbledon girls’ singles champion and No. 4 junior in the world; Elvina Kalieva, 19, a 2021 US Open girls’ doubles finalist; Ashlyn Krueger, 18, the 2021 USTA Girls’ 18s national champion who won her first professional title earlier this year at the USTA Pro Circuit W60 event in Evansville, Ind.; Christina McHale, 30, the former world No. 24 and 2012 London Olympian who owns one WTA singles title; Whitney Osuigwe, 20, former world No. 1 junior and 2017 French Open girls’ singles champion; Katrina Scott, 18, who reached the second round of the US Open in 2020 as a 16-year-old and who has won three USTA Pro Circuit singles titles this year.